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Cruise Ship Terminals on the Gold Coast

Proposed Crusie Ship Terminal

Enviroment Updates

Cruise Ship Terminals on the Gold Coast

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 July, 2012 : - - Once again the proposal to build a cruise terminal has surfaced following the election of Tom Tate as Mayor despite a comprehensive EIS undertaken in 2006 which demonstrated that the proposal in the Broadwater was not economically feasible, would be destructive environmentally and was socially inequitable to other existing industries and residents who use the Broadwater extensively.

Nevertheless Mr Tate has come up with 4 possible Broadwater options and an off shore option somewhere between Surfers Paradise and The Spit. In addition there is now a 6th proposal from Bob Ells for a mega cruise terminal, marina, casino, hotels and whatever else for the Bilinga area.

Gecko – Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council is of the opinion that none of these proposals have much merit, all are environmentally damaging to our natural environment which is a major tourism drawcard, all involve the alienation of public open space from residents in a growing city that needs all the public open space it can get, and economically the benefits to host ports are greatly exaggerated. Where is a genuine cost benefit analysis of these grandiose dreams?

The emergence of these proposals yet again, prompted me to attend a forum put on for tourism businesses interested in the potential of benefiting from the cruise industry. I attended because I wanted to hear what the economic benefits were and also to have a couple of questions about the sustainability of being a home port that provides water, garbage and sewerage services to the cruise ships.

My views that the economic benefits were minimal and that there were many environmental and social problems associated with this industry were confirmed, however others may think differently. The forum was held at the Southport Yacht club and the key speaker, from Carnival Cruises, was heard after other speakers in the industry. Most speakers were upbeat about the benefits of the industry as one would expect.

The following information is taken from notes I took at the forum and I did my best to get the information down correctly.